CMU Energy Facts (Before 2010)
Carnegie Mellon University has been making strides in energy innovation for decades. While the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation continues to produce strong leaders in energy, there are also older accolades.
- CMU ranks first among the Association of American Universities (AAU) schools in the number of start-ups per research dollar (FY08-12).
- Chaired a prominent 2009 National Academy of Sciences committee study on “The Hidden Costs of Energy.”
- Chaired the 2007 United Nations Environmental Programme Sustainable Buildings & Construction Initiative’s Think Tank.
- Wrote a technical summary in 2005 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on carbon capture and storage.
- Co-directed the Institute for Advanced Energy Solutions, a regional, five-university alliance that grew out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
- CMU faculty have been recognized in the U.S. and internationally for their groundbreaking work, receiving some of the most prestigious international awards, including:
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- The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, 2009)
- The American Chemical Society’s Hermann F. Mark Award (Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, 2007)
- The Nobel Peace Prize (Professor Edward Rubin – Awarded as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007)
- The Metcalf Award for Outstanding Engineering Achievement (Professor Allen D. Biehler, 2004; Professor Jay Apt, 2002)
- The Ipatieff Prize from the American Chemical Society (Professor Andrew J. Gellman, 1998
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- In 2009, CMU, along with other members of a local consortium of nonprofit institutions, chose to convert the local coal-burning boiler power plant to natural gas, greatly increasing the plant’s efficiency and dramatically reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
- Sierra Magazine ranked CMU as the 10th "Coolest" School (2007) for the university's efforts against global warming and toward creating a greener campus.